Arrangement comprising a sanitary appliance and a fastening device for an accessory part

ABSTRACT

A sanitary appliance is designed in a known manner as a surface-type appliance, which in the mounted position at its side remote from the user and facing the building wall has at least one water connector for connection to a domestic pipe laid in the building wall. The side facing the building wall is in said case in the mounted position spaced apart from the building wall. At the side of the sanitary appliance facing the building wall at least one fastening structure for an accessory part is moreover provided. Where necessary, further structural components used to fasten the accessory part may be fastened to this fastening structure in such a way that they are accommodated in the intermediate space between the side of the sanitary appliance facing the building wall and the building wall. The accessory part may therefore also be fastened at a later point to the sanitary appliance without the sanitary appliance having to be dismantled.

BACKGROUND ART

The invention relates to an arrangement comprising a sanitary appliance and a fastening device, which is connectable to the sanitary appliance and used to mount an accessory part.

In sanitary areas, e.g. bathrooms, the arrangement of an accessory part in the immediate vicinity of a sanitary appliance is frequently required. Such accessory parts are, for example, the so-called “dry appliances” which include, in particular, holders for toothbrush glasses, soap dishes, lotion containers, towel- and support rails and the like. Accessory parts however also include water-bearing elements, e.g. pipes leading to an overhead shower.

In many cases, there is no wish to fasten these accessory parts to the wall of a building by means of drill holes, because these remain visible after disassembly of the accessory part and may often no longer be eradicated without a great deal of effort.

DE 297 04 867 U1 describes an arrangement of the initially described type, with which an attempt is made to fasten the accessory part, not to the building wall, but to the sanitary appliance. The corresponding fastening device in said case is designed as an elastic shell, which is open at one side and clips from the side around the sanitary appliance and to which in turn the support element for the accessory part is fastened. This arrangement is suitable only for relatively lightweight accessory parts and is also found by many people to be aesthetically not entirely satisfactory.

An object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement of the initially described type, which enables heavier accessory parts also to be fastened in a visually attractive manner to the sanitary appliance.

This object is achieved according to the invention in that the sanitary appliance

-   -   a) is a surface-type appliance, which in the mounted position at         its side remote from the user and facing the building wall has         at least one water connector for connection to a domestic pipe         laid in the building wall,     -   wherein in the mounted position the side facing the building         wall is spaced apart from the building wall; and     -   b) at the side facing the building wall has at least one         fastening means for the accessory part.

According to the invention, therefore, the space existing between the rear of surface-type appliances and the building wall is used to accommodate the components needed for fastening the accessory part. The surface-type appliance may in said case remain substantially unmodified compared to its conventional design; the only modification entails providing the fastening means at the rear of the appliance, where it is out of sight of the user. The fastening means may in said case be designed in such a way that with the aid thereof the further components required for attaching the accessory part may, where necessary, be fastened to the sanitary appliance without the sanitary appliance having to be disconnected from the pipe or pipes for this purpose. A retrofitting of the sanitary appliance is therefore possible at any time, provided that the sanitary appliance is provided at the works with the fastening means required for this purpose.

In the simplest case, the fastening means may be a threaded bore incorporated into the appliance body. A screw may have already been inserted into this threaded bore at the works and then, for fastening the accessory part, need merely be tightened, which even under the confined spatial conditions between the rear of the surface-type appliance and the building wall is easily possible.

In a preferred form of construction of the invention, a mounting part is provided, which is fastenable with the aid of the fastening means to the side of the sanitary appliance facing the building wall. The accessory part is therefore connected, not directly, but with the aid of the intermediate mounting part to the sanitary appliance.

The mounting part is expediently a standardized component suitable for different accessory parts.

Fitting of the mounting part on the sanitary appliance is facilitated in the embodiment of the invention, in which the mounting part has at least one through-opening, which is slotted in such a way that the mounting part is slippable onto the screw by means of a movement effected parallel to the building wall and is fixable by tightening the screw.

The mounting part may have a fastening projection, which is insertable into a recess of a mounting adapter for the accessory parts or the accessory part itself and is fixable there. This development of the invention likewise facilitates the fitting of the accessory part in the relatively confined space that is available between the rear of the sanitary appliance and the building wall.

The accessory part may be, in particular, a mounting rail for a dry appliance but also a water-bearing element.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the drawings; the drawings show:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a surface-type appliance having a fastening device for a mounting rail, partially in section;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a mounting part, which is used with the fastening device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view, partially in section, through the arrangement of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a view, similar to FIG. 1, in which however instead of the fastening device for a mounting rail a fastening device for a shut-off valve carrying a water pipe is provided.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference is made, first of all, to FIGS. 1 to 3. In these, a surface-type mixer tap in the form of a single-lever mixer is denoted by the reference character 1. In the assembled position, at the rear side 2 of the single-lever mixer 1 remote from the user and adjacent to the non-illustrated building wall two water connectors 3, 4 are provided in a known manner a specific bore hole gauge apart from one another. Fitted on the water connectors 3, 4 are S-connectors 5, 6, which compensate a difference between the bore hole gauge of the domestic pipes, which are not shown in the drawings and to which the single-lever mixer 1 is connected, and the bore hole gauge of the single-lever mixer 1.

In the middle of the rear side 2 of the single-lever mixer 1, between the two water connectors 3 and 4, two threaded bores 8, 9 are provided at a distance from one another in the appliance body 7 of the single-lever mixer 1. The mounting part 10, a perspective view of which is shown in FIG. 2, is fastened with the aid of two countersunk head screws 25, 26 to these threaded bores 8, 9.

The mounting part 10 has two through-openings 11, 12, the distance between axes of which corresponds to the distance between axes of the two threaded bores 8, 9 of the appliance body 7. The through-openings 11, 12 are slotted in a downward direction. In the middle region between the two through-openings 11, 12 an offset fastening projection 13 having an upward pointing, rounded lug 14 is integrally formed on the mounting part 10.

Fastened on the fastening projection 13 is a mounting adapter 15. For this purpose, the mounting adapter 15 has a recess 16, which is open towards the side that is adjacent to the mounting part 10. The recess 16 is large enough for the fastening projection 13 together with the lug 14 to be inserted by means of a movement of the mounting adapter 15 at right angles to the building wall. At a specific distance from the lateral surface of the mounting adapter 15 the recess 16 has an upwards extending blind hole 17, in which the lug 14 of the fastening projection 13 may be received, in the manner illustrated in FIG. 1. The bottom end face of the mounting adapter 15 is connected to the recess 16 by a threaded bore 18, into which a grub screw 19 is screwed.

Passing through the mounting adapter 15 there is moreover an, in the assembly position, approximately vertically extending through-hole 20, the cross-sectional shape of which corresponds to the cross-sectional shape of a mounting rail 21, which extends through the through-hole 20. In a horizontal through-bore 22, which connects the rear end of the mounting adapter 15 to the through-hole 20, a pressure pin 23 is displaceably mounted, the inwardly directed end face of which is pressed under the action of a spring against a detent structure 24 at the rear of the mounting rail 21. The mounting rail 21 in turn may carry any desired accessory part, e.g. a soap dish, lotion container, toothbrush glass holder or the like.

The mode of operation of the previously described arrangement comprising single-lever mixer 1 and fastening device is as follows:

The single-lever mixer 1 is first connected in a conventional manner with the aid of the S-connectors 5, 6 to the domestic pipes, wherein however the two countersunk head screws 25, 26 have already been screwed loosely into the threaded bores 8, 9 at the rear side 2. Should the user at a later point wish to fasten some kind of accessory part to the single-lever mixer 1, the mounting part 10 is inserted from above into the intermediate space between the rear side 2 and the building wall. The shanks of the two countersunk head screws 25, 26 in said case pass through the corresponding slots into the through-openings 11, 12. The countersunk head screws 25, 26 may then be tightened so that the mounting part 10 is fitted tightly on the single-lever mixer 1.

In the next step, the mounting adapter 15 is slipped from the side over the fastening projection 13 of the mounting part 10 and then moved slightly downwards until the lug 14 of the fastening projection 13 is seated in the blind hole 17 of the mounting adapter 15. The grub screw 19 is then screwed from below against the bottom face of the fastening projection 13. The mounting adapter 15 is then likewise firmly mounted. In the final step, the mounting rail 21 may then be introduced from above or from below into the through-hole 22 of the mounting adapter 15. By applying a suitable, axially directed force, the latching of the pressure pin 23 in the structure 24 of the mounting rail 21 may be overcome and the mounting rail 21 may be brought into the desired vertical position. Finally, the accessory part in question may be mounted on the mounting rail 21.

In FIG. 4 the same single-lever mixer 1 as is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 3 is shown, at which the same mounting part 10 as in FIGS. 1 to 3 has already been introduced. Instead of the mounting adapter 15, however, a shut-off valve denoted as a whole by the reference character 50 is fastened to the mounting part 10. For this purpose, the housing 51 of the shut-off valve 50 at its side facing the mounting part 10 has a recess 52, the shape of which corresponds completely to the shape of the recess 16 in the mounting adapter 15 of FIGS. 1 and 3. The recess 52 is connected to the bottom end of the shut-off valve housing 51 by a threaded bore 53, in which the grub screw 54 is screwable.

An only partially illustrated shower hose 55 extends from the hose connector 56 of the single-lever mixer 1 to the bottom end of the shut-off valve housing 51 and is fastened there in a non-illustrated, sealed manner. The interior of the shower hose 55 communicates with a water channel lying in front of or behind the drawing plane in the shut-off valve housing 51. This water channel leads to the most remote region 57 a, inside the shut-off valve housing 51, of a stepped bore 57, which has been introduced into the shut-off valve housing 51 from the side thereof facing the user. The region 57 a of the stepped bore 57 is connected to the remaining part of the stepped bore 57 by a valve seat 58. A short axial region 57 b of the stepped bore 57 is designed as a threaded bore, into which a closure element 59 is screwed. The closure element 59 at its outer end region is connected to a manually actuable rotary button 60. At its opposite, inner end region it carries a valve disc 61 which, depending on the rotary position of the closure element 59, lies against the valve seat 58 and stops the flow of water out of the region 57 a of the stepped bore 57 or is at a distance from the valve seat 58, thereby allowing water to flow out of the region 57 a into the region of the stepped bore 57 lying, in FIG. 4, to the left of the valve seat 58.

The water passes from the region 57 d of the stepped bore 57 lying immediately to the left of the valve disc 61 into an annular chamber 62, which is delimited by an annular groove in the closure element 59 and by the stepped bore 57 and communicates via an opening 63 in a partition wall 64 of the shut-off valve housing 51 with a further water chamber 65. From the water chamber 65 a through-bore 66 leads to the top end of the shut-off valve housing 51, into which end, with the simultaneous addition of an O-ring seal 67, a water pipe 68 leading to an overhead shower has been introduced. The water pipe 58 is in said case supported on a step of the through-bore 66.

The mode of operation of the arrangement comprising single-lever mixer 1 and shut-off valve 50 illustrated in FIG. 4 is as follows:

It is again assumed that initially only the single-lever mixer 1, with the two countersunk head screws 25, 26 already inserted into the threaded bores 8, 9 at the rear side 2, has been connected in a normal manner with the aid of the S-connectors 5, 6 to the domestic pipes. Should the user then at a later point desire an overhead shower, he may proceed in the following manner:

First of all, as has already been described for the embodiment of FIG. 1, the mounting part 10 is fastened with the aid of the countersunk screws 25 and 26 to the rear side 2 of the single-lever mixer 1. The shut-off valve 50 is then mounted on the mounting part 10 in that its recess 52 is slipped from the side over the fastening projection 13 of the mounting part 10 and the lug 14 is introduced into the blind hole of the recess 52. The grub screw 54 is then tightened against the underside of the fastening projection 13, with the result that the shut-off valve housing 51 is securely supported.

The shower hose 55 may then be connected, on the one hand, to the pipe connection 56 of the single-lever mixer 1 and, on the other hand, to the shut-off valve housing 51. The pipe 68 connected to the non-illustrated overhead shower is introduced from above into the through-bore 66 of the shut-off valve housing 51.

To allow water to flow to the overhead shower, it is necessary, on the one hand, for the single-lever mixer 1 to be open so that water may flow into the shower hose 55. It is however also necessary for the shut-off valve 50 to be opened by suitably turning the rotary button 60; only then may water flow through the shut-off valve housing 51 into the region 57 a of the stepped bore 57 and then through the region 57 d, the annular chamber 62 and the water chamber 65 into the water pipe 68.

In an embodiment not illustrated in the drawings, instead of a shut-off valve a changeover valve, by means of which the water stream may be directed towards either an overhead shower or a shower attachment, is fastened to the single-lever mixer.

In the described manner, with the aid of the mounting part 10 that is screw-fastened to the rear side of the single-lever mixer 1, a wide range of accessory parts may be fastened to the single-lever mixer 1 without additional fastening drill holes in the building wall being required for this purpose. This fastening may also be effected at a later point, after the single-lever mixer 1 has already been firmly connected to the domestic pipes, without this connection having to be undone.

While specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, numerous modifications may come to mind without significantly departing from the spirit of the invention, and the scope of protection is only limited by the scope of the accompanying Claims. 

1 Arrangement comprising a sanitary appliance having an appliance body, and a fastening device, which is connectable to the sanitary appliance and used to mount an accessory part, characterized in that the sanitary appliance a) is a surface-type appliance, which in the mounted position at its side remote from the user and facing a building wall has at least one water connector for connection to a domestic pipe laid in the building wall, wherein the side facing the building wall in the mounted position is spaced apart from the building wall; and b) at the side facing the building wall has at least one fastening means for the accessory part.
 2. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the fastening means is a threaded bore incorporated into the appliance body of the sanitary appliance.
 3. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that a mounting part is provided, which is fastenable with the aid of the fastening means to the side of the sanitary appliance facing the building wall.
 4. Arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that the mounting part is a standardized component suitable for different accessory parts.
 5. Arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that the mounting part has at least one through-opening, which is slotted in such a way that the mounting part is slippable by means of a movement running parallel to the building wall onto a screw screwed into a threaded bore and is fixable there by tightening the screw.
 6. Arrangement according to claim 3, characterized in that the mounting part has a fastening projection, which is insertable into a recess of a mounting adapter for the accessory part or the accessory part itself and is fixable there.
 7. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the accessory part is a mounting rail for a dry appliance.
 8. Arrangement according to claim 1, characterized in that the accessory part is a water-bearing element. 